Tag Archives: ghost pepper

I’ve come up with a good way to explain to normal people what it’s like to have IBD. My boyfriend mentioned once that me trying to figure out what to eat is like trying to find good food that’s not covered in hot sauce, and that’s what triggered this idea.

Imagine that there’s this type of hot sauce that gives you the most pain you’ve ever felt. Your stomach aches, you get the worst diarrhea any person could ever get. It’s not even worth adding to your food. The thing is, it’s invisible. You can’t smell it, taste it, feel it, or anything.

Then imagine you lived in a world where food was covered in it about 80% of the time. Everyone in invisible hot sauce world loves it except for you, because it makes you sick. In that leftover 20%, there’s 15% going to food that is definitely not covered in invisible hot sauce.

But eating just that 15% of the types of food there are in the invisible hot sauce world gets really boring. You miss regular food that’s not plain potatoes or chicken with zero spices. You get to the point where you’re desperate enough to take that leftover 5% and run with it.

In a world where 80% of food is covered in invisible hot sauce, 15% is definitely not covered in hot sauce, there’s a 5% chance that a normal food that you eat isn’t covered in hot sauce.

So after this breakdown, you order a greasy fast food cheeseburger, some curly fries, and a milkshake. There’s a 5% this meal won’t make you sick, but after being stuck with plain toast and chicken broth, you’ll deal with anything.

There’s an 80% chance it’s covered in the invisible hot sauce and there’s a 5% chance it isn’t.

This is why some days I can’t get myself to eat whatever is put in front of me. I’m just not ready to take that chance.